Wake me up before you go

Was having drinks with some friends over the weekend. I was not sure if I could walk out of the place on my own, considering I am a non-alcoholic. But what the heck? It was Friday night:)

A friend was commenting about his drinking experiences in Munich. Apparently, many come here simply to see the toilet at this beer garden. With an array of nude images entertaining the patrons in the midst of their "business", it was a real eye-catcher for him.

Being a highly regulated country, such schticks are prohibited in Singapore nightlife. And the closest I know was another club called "Madam Wong" some years back. Here, patrons were often greeted with stories of a spirit rubbing shoulders with the customers.

Personally, I had visited Madam Wong disco myself. The toilets were awfully old (perhaps the management wanted to preserve the historical value....) The spirit described in the story was rumoured to be a melancholic-looking spirit being abandoned in this building.

Yes, you are right. It is a lady spirit.

Is she the Madam Wong we are talking about?

It must have been love

Was watching news from TV mobile on the bus the other day. Almost fell off my seat when I learned the annual costs of keeping a horse:

FEED
Hay (20 lb./day x 365 days = 7300 lb. or 3.65 tons x $120 per ton = $438.00
Grain (4 lb./day x 365 days = 1460 # x .20/lb.) = 292.00

BEDDING
Bedding (1 bag/wk. X $5/bag) = $260.00

VETERINARY SUPPLIES AND CARE
Immunizations = $60.00
Deworming 6 times per year x $10 = $60.00
Dental and Misc. Vet Maintenance = $100.00
Farm call charges = $75.00

FARRIER
Shoeing 6 times at $80 = $480.00
Trimming 3 times at $25 = $75.00

TOTAL $1840.00

Similarly, pet lover, particularly dog's owners have taken their love beyond their affection for their dogs nowadays. Often, you could see dogs' fanatics dressing up their dogs in the designer dogs wear, buying dog health supplements, on top of signing them up for grooming classes.

I know they’re out there. And the whole “people who treat their dogs better than human race” thing has taken on an entirely new dimension.

Sometimes, you even see cars with their dog sitting next to the drivers, while their families have been given the back seats? One can't help thinking, “Every dog has its day!” And I mean it literally!

Well, that’s not so funny any more.

Can't fight the moonlight

Recently, a lunar eclipse took place as the Moon passed through some portion of the Earth's shadow. This could only happened when the Sun, Earth and Moon are postioned exactly, or very nearly so, with the Earth in the middle of the two.

A lunar eclipse happens at least twice a year, whenever some portion of the Earth's shadow falls upon the Moon. The Moon will always be full during a lunar eclipse; that is, from the perspective of the Sun, the Moon will be directly behind the Earth. As a consequence, the Moon is always full during a lunar eclipse.

The shadow of the Earth can be divided into two distinctive parts: the umbra and penumbra. Within the umbra, there is no direct solar radiation. However, as a result of the Sun's large angular size, solar illumination is only partially blocked in the outer portion of the Earth's shadow, hence the name, penumbra.

A partial lunar eclipse occurs when only a portion of the Moon enters the umbra. When the Moon travels completely into the Earth's umbra, one observes a total lunar eclipse.

Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are perfectly safe to see with the naked eye. Below is the last lunar eclipse in 2007 taken from Wikpedia's site:

Various images of the 3 March 2007 lunar eclipse.

So join me for next lunar eclipse on 29 August?

Ironic

Caught a movie "Paris, I love you (Paris, je t'aime)" with friends the other day. In a nutshell, it is a collaboration of love stories by different producers in Paris that evinces felicity, separation, and bizarre encounters. Filmed over 18 districts by 20 accoladed directors, each story offers both the romance in modern Paris as well as the fascination one experiences as a tourist.

Strangely, what stirred my heart most is the story of the lady or the single mum. The character who is juggling her babysitting work in the day, while leaving her own baby at a childcare to make ends meet. Her subtle delivery of the character aptly brings out the irony in her life, and stresses the paradoxical nature of the contrast between an ideal and actual set of circumstances.

Isn't it ironic?